


Teamwork

by youreyestheyglow



Category: Kill la Kill
Genre: Biker AU, F/F, Fluff, Smut, like a shortened biker-ized version of canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-31
Updated: 2014-10-30
Packaged: 2018-02-23 07:23:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2539256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youreyestheyglow/pseuds/youreyestheyglow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryuko and Mako went on a motorcycle tour of Japan and when they come back, Satsuki's taken over.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A [friend](http://auofahumanjukebox.tumblr.com/) requested a biker au for her birthday, and this is the result!

Thank god I’m up front instead of Mako, the breeze is stupid strong. I wish I had the money to buy her her own BioWear, but neither of us have jack shit in terms of money, and Senketsu and I work better together. Not that he doesn’t like Mako, or anything. It’s just that we’ve been together since birth and he’s – better with me. We’re like family where he and Mako are acquaintances, slowly becoming friends.

Mako squeezes my waist more tightly and I swear I can hear her sigh contentedly against my back, but it’s more likely that I’m hearing the wind and Senketsu grumbling. He’s not in one of his usual revealing configurations today: motorcycle riding doesn’t do nice things to skin. Nah, today he’s a full-on jacket, a scarf, goggles, tight pants. Everything skin-tight to prevent drag, and everything being pulled tighter as Mako squishes it into my skin. He knows better than to complain, though. Mako’s important, and if she lets go or if anything happens to her – I shudder. I can’t help it.

“What’s wrong, Ryuko-chan?” She says in my ear.

“Nothin’, sweetheart,” I reassure her. “It’s just breezy up here.”

She laughs. “At least it’s not breezy _down there_!”

 I roll my eyes. Mako just laughs between my shoulder blades. Senketsu grumbles something about _questioning his ability to clothe me properly_. I nudge my scarf and he shuts his mouth.

We’re driving into town twenty minutes later. It stings, but fuck it, I’m over it.

Mako’s not, though.

“You grew up _here_ , Ryuko-chan?”

“Well, it looked a lot nicer when I was growin’ up,” I reassure her.

“Well, _yeah_ , but…”

And I know she can’t see what I see. Houses, standing strong and full of light. People walking the streets. Thriving businesses attracting customers day in and day out.

She just sees the burnt-out ghost town it became, once _she_ was done with it. I don’t even know her name. All I know is she and her gang came through here and within a month the place was a burned-out crime-ridden wreck. She had that effect on places. Somehow managed to reduce people to animals. Pigs in human clothing. Orwell’s worst nightmares come true. Her and her flamboyant-ass rainbow hair.

This stop is different from the rest. For a month, we’ve been biking around Japan. Usually, if we make friends with the right people, we can get someone to let us stay for the night, feed us. We made our tiny budget stretch just fine. It’s been great. Just me and Mako, her little backpack full of her clothes and some essentials, biking around the country. Mako’s usually the one who makes friends with people. I’m not great at that. She walks into a store and walks out with someone willing to host us for the night, it’s incredible. Dinner, a bed, and breakfast, all in one fell swoop. Mako’s the reason we’ve got money leftover.

I _am_ pretty good at keeping us safe from robbers and the like, though. March into a bar, drop into a seat, have Senketsu sprout spikes, and we’re good to go. It helps that my habit of eating lemons is considered freaky. Fastest way to assure everyone that I take no shit is to munch on a lemon. It’s great.

No one to worry about here, though. Also, no electricity, running water, restaurants, beds, washing machines. We prepared for this, though. We’ve got sleeping bags and we bought food in the last town, although it’s all ready-made stuff and kinda gross.

We ride slowly through the town until we reach my old place.

It tugs at my heart a little, but honestly, I went to boarding school. I didn’t spend much time here as a kid, and by the time I started coming home more often, I was already older. It was never much of a home for me.

Mako seems stricken by it, though. She keeps glancing at me, and she squeezes my hand a lot.

Actually, she’s probably worried I’m gonna have a breakdown. I smile at her. “It’s fine, it doesn’t bother me.”

Mako smiles back. “You’ve got a new home now, Ryuko-chan. With us.”

“Yeah.”

“Where are we gonna sleep?” She bounces on the balls of her feet for a moment before pulling me inside, nearly whacking me with her backpack.

“Mako, wait – the stairs might not be –” But she’s already bounding up them. My heart rises into my throat for a minute, and then she’s safe on the top floor.

“Ryuko-chan, where’s your bedroom?” She calls to me.

“I’m coming up, I’ll show you.”

The stairs creak a little under my weight.

“Senketsu, if I fall –”

“I’ll catch you,” he promises.

“Thanks.”

After Rainbow Ass left, after we gave up on reclaiming our town and left, after the squatters than hadn’t known what else to do left, looters came through. They took everything they could grab. Some of the wooden paneling is gone, a floorboard or two is missing. What’d they take from my room? I can’t imagine how they got in, seeing as I locked it before I left, and it was tuned to –

The door is closed.

Promising. I guess ripping it off the hinges was too hard.

Or it locked after they opened it?

I put my hand on the door and Senketsu extends through the lock. My dad used to say Senketsu saved him hundreds in key copies and broken doorknobs – I was an angry kid, slammed the door more times than I can count. Broke the kitchen door once or twice, until pops fitted it with the same mechanism as this door.

“It’s been a long time,” Senketsu mutters as he fits himself into the lock inside the thick door. “Maybe some things are still intact?”

“’M not hopeful,” I tell him. Mako looks at me, about to respond, before she realizes I’m talking to Senketsu.

The door unlatches and I push it in.

It’s – everything’s here. Untouched. Dusty as hell, and it smells like mold, but we’ve got a bed and sheets and everything.

“Wow, Ryuko-chan! Wow! Wow!” Mako dances around like she’s entered a mansion. “I thought you said they looted?” She pulls off her jacket and drops it onto my desk, claiming it.

“They did, I haven’t been up here in years… makes me wonder what’s in the rest of the house,” I say to myself as I turn to my dad’s room.

Senketsu opens it up.

I push the door open.

It looks like my dad managed to take some stuff before he left, but for the most part, it’s all intact – bed, wardrobe, desk.

Mako follows me down to the kitchen, the only other door in the house with these locks, and watches anxiously as I open it.

“Holy crap, there’s stuff in here! Don’t open the fridge, Mako, there hasn’t been energy in here for years, if there’s any food left it’s rotted to nothing.”

She sighs sadly with her hand on the fridge door and turns to the cabinets instead. “Some canned stuff.”

“There’s utensils in the drawer.”

Now, _this_ is sad. I’ve only looked at the outside of the house. Haven’t been in since my dad left. And now I wonder how _fast_ he got out of here? That he left everything except his papers?

Or maybe he intended to come back, and hadn’t counted on having a heart attack a month later. He hadn’t even given me my scissor blade – I found it next to his bed. Yeah, that sounds much more like him. Take the important stuff, get out, let the looters take whatever’s not locked down, come back for the rest when it’s convenient and safe. I wish he’d told me, though.

Well, it’s definitely helping us out now, so I won’t complain. We get to eat with real chopsticks instead of shitty ones. “We could take these – sell them. Make back what we lost on this trip.”

“They’re Ryuko-chan’s things, though,” Mako protests.

“Nah, they’re my dad’s. And he left them, and it’s not like we need them, and I don’t care about them, so we should sell ‘em. Could come back with your dad’s truck, take some of the bigger stuff from upstairs…” That desk would go for a lot of money. Could get Mako some BioWear of her own.

“I don’t want to loot your house, though,” Mako says.

“It’s not looting if it’s mine already.”

“I thought you just said it was your dad’s?”

“And then he died so it’s mine and I can do what I want and I don’t need it to sit here.”

“You’re really okay with it?”

Her concern sends a rush of affection through me. I push her hair behind her ear and grin at her. “Yeah.”

 Dinner is cold, but honestly, I don’t really notice.

It’s the first time in a month we’ve had space to ourselves. I can feel the energy thrumming off Mako’s skin. We eat slowly, but I’m ultra-aware of her presence, just across the table from me. My hands itch to touch her skin.

We come together naturally, wordlessly. She can feel me just as acutely as I can feel her. Senketsu complains, so I pull him off and sling him over the kitchen chair. Mako’s hands are on my breasts, on my ribs, my waist, my hips, thumbs circling my hipbones as she kisses me. She tugs me backwards and bumps into the doorjamb. I laugh as I scoop her up like a baby. She kisses my neck as I walk carefully up the stairs, aware of her arms around my neck, her mouth on my skin. Hands playing with my hair.

I put her on the bed and she sighs and stretches, arching her back up towards me.

I grin as I bend over to kiss her stomach. Crawl onto the bed, scooch between her legs. I wiggle my ass in the air, knowing it makes her giggle, as I kiss up to the hem of her shirt. Her chest is rapidly rising and falling, and when I put my lips against her ribcage, I can feel it expand with every breath. I use my teeth to ease her shirt up over her breasts and she pushes her chest up towards me.

I can’t resist.

Her breasts are beautiful, and I kiss them and suck on them and flick my tongue over her nipples until she’s gasping and whining my name. The –chan is still attached, though. Gotta fix that.

“Arms up,” I whisper, and she raises her arms above her head. I grab her shirt in my teeth and ease it over her head. I move over her as I tug it off her arms, and then I lose my breath when I feel her wet, warm tongue making little circles around my nipple. I sigh. She takes the shirt from me and pulls it the rest of the way off, but her tongue doesn’t stop, so I hover there, hips rolling gently against her stomach, until my arms start to burn. I move down for a kiss.

“Gonna make you cum with just my tongue,” I murmur against Mako’s lips, and she shivers.

I grin at her as I move back down to her breasts, large and soft and smooth against my lips. Down to her stomach, belly button, hipbones, tracing the two stars on her left hip. Her legs are already spread, waiting for me, and I push myself down between her thighs. I consider the logistics of getting her skirt off, her panties, her thigh-highs, and decide it’s too much for now. I drag my tongue up the cleft between her labia and she sighs. I tongue at where her clit is and her hand comes to my hair. I tease her until she tugs at my hair and whines at me, hips rolling into my mouth, and honestly, I want the full experience. Screw the panties, they’re in my way.

I look up at her and grin as I grab her panties with my teeth and tug them down. Her pupils are huge, her lips parted, her face flushed.

She kicks the panties off, spreads her legs, and waits.

I kiss my way up the inside of her leg, taking my time, knowing she can feel the heat of my mouth but not my lips as I skim them up her stockings.

“Ryuko! _”_ She whines.

The –chan is gone. My grin widens as I kiss the crease on the inside of her thighs. Her hips jolt up.

“ _Ryuko_!” She grabs at my hair and tugs and I shudder, vag clenching. Right. No more fooling around. I dive in, licking into her vag like it’s my job, tasting her and sighing with her moans. Oh my _god,_ I want –

“Ryuko,” she gasps, “Don’t –”

I stop. Don’t what? Am I hurting her?”

“Don’t touch yourself, I want – to make you cum on my own.”

My mouth goes dry. “O-okay,” I stutter out. Oh god. Oh my god.

She smiles at me.

I go back down and suck on her clit.

She’s gonna _kill_ me with her moans, needy and long. My body is clenching around nothing. I need – I need to do something with my hands, fuck – I end up pinching my nipples, rolling my hips against air, thrusting my tongue into Mako, sucking her clit. I stiffen my tongue and rub it against her clit and her leg tenses. Almost there. I push down harder and free one of my breasts and slide my free hand up her stomach and find her nipple and she screams my name as her hips push up. Her thighs squeeze my head. I keep at it until she grabs my hair and tugs.

I lick my lips as I grin at her.

She still hasn’t come down, I can tell, but it doesn’t matter, because she’s sitting up, pushing me back, kissing me full-force while her fingers dip between my legs. There’s no foreplay. She’s just off an orgasm, high with energy, and it’s not like I need it. Her fingers piston into me as she kisses me again, and then she’s moving down to suck on my nipple. My head slams back, nearly hitting the bedframe, but she’s gone already, down, down, between my legs, her little tongue stroking my clit as her fingers fill me up and my toes curl and I see stars as I cum, hard, my whole body clenching and shaking.

Mako giggles. “You’re cute when you cum.”

I pull her up towards me. I’m smiling like an idiot, I know. Sex does that to me. “Shh. Time to sleep.”

“It’s not even that late,” she says as I pull off her skirt and thigh-highs.

“We can get an early start, tomorrow. Get home early.”

She smiles at me as I nuzzle her neck. She smells good. “Ok, Ryuko-chan.”

I run my hand absentmindedly up her side. The touch is soothing. I fall asleep within minutes.

I wake up to Mako tracing my tattoos.

Her finger delicately follows the half-scissor-blade down my back, as red as the weapon it was modeled after. Up my spine she goes, goosebumps trailing after her finger, and over my shoulder blades, where I have Senketsu’s eyes tattooed like wings. Don’t ask me why. There’s no point, really; I’ve been with Senketsu since birth. Why bother getting something I’ll always have tattooed on me? I have no idea, honestly. I just felt naked without him, so I got him tattooed on me.

Mako kisses the back of my neck. “Good morning,” she says slowly.

“No.”

She kisses under my ear. “Mm, but Ryuko-chan –”

“Nonononono,” I rush as I pull away from her. “We said we’d get an early start, remember?”

“But I’m _horny_ ,” she cries after me as I grab the sheet and tumble out of bed.

“It’s time to get home!”

“ _Horny_!”

“ _Home_!”

“ _Horny_!”

“ _Home_!” I wrap the sheet around me, protection against the cold, and run downstairs.

Senketsu is waiting for me, just a sailor uniform without my body to wrap around. He stares at me with a wide eye. “Is she going to attack me!”

I snort. “No. Come ‘ere, I’m cold.” I pull him off the chair and tug him over my head and he comes to life, growing over my skin into a jacket and scarf. I can feel my hair calm down too, brushed back away from my face. “Thanks, Senketsu.”

“You’re welcome, Ryuko.”

Mako comes pounding down the stairs for breakfast. She pouts at me, but kisses my cheek anyway. “You just wanna shower.”

I grin. “Yeah.”

 Breakfast is quick enough. I’m ready to head home, but Mako’s still twitchy. She’s walking strangely.

I almost want to apologize to Senketsu for what I’m about to do.

Mako looks at me strangely when I don’t get on the bike, but not for long, because I’m pressing her against it, kissing her gently as I sneak my hand under her skirt and push her panties to the side.

“Ryuko-chan – we’re outside –” she gasps.

“No one here,” I mutter as I kiss her neck. I rub her clit and realize she’s wet already. “Haven’t been able to calm down?”

She shudders in response.

I slide a finger inside of her as I rub circles over her clit. She clenches around me and leans back on the bike, hands on the seat to hold herself up, resting her backpack between her hands. The kickstand’s on the other side, it should be fine, but – all the same – I wrap my other arm around her waist. Just in case.

She clutches at my hair instead of Senketsu, who’s crawling up my arm away from Mako’s thighs. I speed up a little, and Mako bucks against me, head falling back, moaning my name – “Ryuko, Ryuko, Ryuko” – squeezing around me, pulling my fingers deeper. I press my face against her chest, brushing my lips against her nipple through her shirt, and she twitches and orgasms all over my fingers, eyes scrunched shut and hands pulling at my hair.

“Better?” I ask when she calms down.

She sighs happily and smiles at me. “I love you, Ryuko-chan.”

My heart thumps a little harder than normal. “Love you too, Mako.”

“Sorry, Senketsu,” she says as I swing my leg over my bike.

He huffs. “Should’ve just stayed in bed and saved me the trouble.”

“Sorry, Senketsu,” I apologize.

Mako climbs on and wraps her arms around me.

“Ready?”

“Yeah.”

And we’re off, driving towards Honnoji, wind in my face and Mako’s arms around my waist.


	2. Chapter 2

I half expect our entrance into Honnoji to be greeted with fanfare, maybe a parade, but I nearly crash into some woman on a motorcycle.

“Who do you think you are?” Growls some asshole behind her who looks like he’d crush a car, let alone a motorcycle.

“She doesn’t have the right of way!” I yell indignantly. “She could’ve killed me!”

“Lady Satsuki is –” He begins, but _Lady_ Satsuki herself holds up a hand and silences him.

“What the hell, you caterpillar-eyebrowed bitch? Who do you think you are?” I yell at her. _Lady_. What a joke.

“Ryuko-chan –” Mako says behind me, but Satsuki is already talking.

“I don’t believe you live here,” she says icily. “Perhaps you should leave.”

“Ryuko, you need to calm down,” Senketsu says.

I ignore him. “I live here. I’ve lived here for a year and a half. _You_ don’t live here.”

“I’ve never seen you.”

“I’ve never seen _you_ here before, either.”

“We’ve been on a trip,” Mako pipes up. “We’re back now.”

“Oh really? Where do you live?”

Mako points to her right. “Back-alley doctor’s house!”

“You’re Mankanshokus?” asks a guy wearing a dog cone.

“There’re two more of them?” Asks a pink-haired asshole who sounds like she’s chain-smoked her life away.

“I am! Ryuko-chan is my girlfriend!” Mako says proudly.

Pink-Haired-Chain-smoker looks Mako up and down and looks at me. Her gaze slides back to Mako. “Underachiever.”

Mako frowns and glares at Chain Smoker. “That’s mean!”

“Why do you live with the Mankanshokus?” Satsuki demands.

“Why do you need to know?”

She swings her leg over her bike and stands tall. “This is my town. Why do you live with the Mankanshokus?”

I stand, ignoring Senketsu’s warnings and Mako’s hand on my arm. “What the hell makes you think this is your town?”

“I claimed it. Unchallenged – except by the inept police department. It’s mine. Answer my question.”

“No!”

She flicks her hand and her clothes grow out – BioWear, she’s wearing BioWear, and it’s growing into a _sword_ for her.

I have no idea how to make Senketsu do that and my scissor blade is back home and I can’t protect Mako or myself and – I growl in frustration as I jump back onto my bike and zoom away. I don’t hear motorcycles behind me. “Mako, are they following?”

“No,” she says quietly. “Ryuko-chan, you’re not going to fight her, right?”

I feel the fight dwindling out of me as we swerve into the Mankanshoku garage. Mako’s ok, so everything else is ok, so there’s no need to fight. “No.”

She squeezes me a little harder, and for once, Senketsu doesn’t even grumble. “Okay.”

Barazo throws the door open. “ _Mako_!” He bellows.

I throw the kickstand down and jump off the bike and out of the way of the Mankanshoku reunion, but Sukuyo grabs me and pulls me in anyway. I grin and pat Mataro’s back as he wails, “My sister is back! My sister is back!”

I let them have a moment before I suggest we move inside. Satsuki and her asshats might not have followed us, but that doesn’t mean they won’t come find us.

Sukuyo hustles us inside as soon as I mention it, saying something about croquettes being ready. Wonderful woman. Mataro jams Mako’s beanie on her head the moment we walk through the door, and I twirl the pinwheel out of habit. Mako beams at me.

“Who’s Satsuki-sama?” Mako asks.

“Satsuki-sama? You met her already?” Barazo asks as Mataro runs around shrieking: “Terrifying biker lady! Raising an army!”

“Raising an army?” I ask him.

Sukuyo answers. “She and her gang have been biking around for a month, forcing people into service, training them up with the help of the boy with the monkey tattoo – uses a bow to fight. Probably so he doesn’t have to worry about it not working on BioWear. They’ve all got BioWear. Must be rich.”

“Service? An army for what?” I ask, bringing her back on track.

She shrugs. “No idea. She keeps talking about putting an end to someone’s reign of terror.”

“Hers! Maybe she’ll put an end to her _own_ reign of terror!” Mataro yells between croquettes.

I can’t help but smile at the familiar family dinner: loud, obnoxious, overwhelming, and full of love and care.

It takes my mind off Satsuki for a little while.

I take my shower, overjoyed to be back in my own shower at home, and spend the day with the Mankanshokus. They all talk over each other, Mako telling them stories about our vacation and Mataro telling stories about school and Barazo talking about clients, both dead and alive, and Sukuyo telling stories about the Mankanshokus themselves. I just listen, absolutely certain that no one would hear a word I said even if I spoke, and when I fall asleep wrapped around Mako in a bed full of people, I’m content.

 


	3. Chapter 3

“What do you mean, you’re going on a ride? Where are you going?” Mako asks.

“I’m just going on a ride around town,” I tell her. It’s not a lie.

“Don’t you want to stay home for a little while? Aren’t you sore from riding around on a bike all month?” She asks anxiously.

“Nope! I’ll be back in a bit, sweetheart, okay?”

She hops on the bike behind me before I can push away. “Then I’m coming with you, Ryuko-chan. Even if I have to sit behind the scissor blade on your back.”

I drop the act. “Mako, please – just stay here, where you’re safe, okay?” I grab her hand, pressed against my stomach. “Please?”

She only holds me tighter. “I’m safest with you, Ryuko-chan.”

“She’s right, you know,” Senketsu adds in. “And you’re safest with her.”

I sigh. “Okay. But if anything happens –”

“I’m staying with you.”

I’ll take it. I release her hand. “Let’s go, then.”

We zoom off.

We’re only driving for a couple minutes before we’re practically barricaded by the four asshats. “Satsuki-sama is interested in you,” says Chain Smoker, her voice dripping with disdain.

“Actually, I am too,” says Dog Cone. The cone opens when he speaks. I should’ve known it was BioWear. “You come up in our system as –”

“In your system?” I ask. “What system? Why am I in it?”

He opens his mouth and his cone, but Satsuki herself comes riding in, swerving sideways to stop. She has impressive control over her bike, I’ll give her that.

“Matoi Ryuko.”

That’s it. I’m off my bike, Senketsu shouting warnings at me as he falls into my fighting outfit, covered in spikes. Red spikes. Even my hair spikes up. I don’t do shit halfway. “How do you know my last name?!” I yell at her.

“Found you. Are you going to fight me over it?” She says calmly, maddeningly calmly, with the barest hint of annoyance, like I’m inconveniencing her.

 _Fuck_ her.

I pull my scissor blade out. “If it’s the only way I can get you outta here!”

“Ryuko-chan, you’ve got this! You’ve been fighting for years and you are _definitely_ on Satsuki-sama’s level!” Mako screams behind me.

I can’t help but throw a grin in her direction.

It costs me.

Satsuki’s on me before I even realize it’s happening. Shit, she’s _fast_. She’s _really_ fast. I recover just in time to block her.

Her sword flashes the sun into my eyes. I blindly parry, Senketsu yelling instructions – “She’s on your left! Going in for the ribs!”

Gotta get the sun out of the picture. I twist out of the way and dance sideways, taking an experimental stab at her throat, blocked quickly enough. She’s fast. Her reflexes are incredible. All I can see are her eyes, boring into mine as her sword swings faster than I can follow.

I can’t hold back.

Mako shouts encouragements and Senketsu shouts instructions and I take a deep breath and go in, settling into that place where nothing else matters.

I see Satsuki and her sword and nothing else. I hear Satsuki and her sword and nothing else. Senketsu is on my skin and in my blood, moving with me, moving me, and suddenly my scissor blade is at Satsuki’s throat and her sword is at my throat.

A draw.

She doesn’t smile, but there’s a glint of approval in her eyes.

“Impressive.”

I glare at her. Flattery will get her nowhere.

“I’d like your help, if you’ll give it.”

I glance down pointedly at the cold metal against my skin.

She raises her eyebrows at me.

We can’t talk like this.

I don’t _want_ to talk to her, honestly. But I’m suddenly incredibly conscious of Mako behind me, who would be absolutely defenseless – or, at least, unable to take on the four people backing Satsuki – if I were incapacitated.

We pull back our weapons at the same time.

“What do you need an army for?”

“You should know.”

“I don’t have time for riddles,” I snarl at her. _I should know_. I’ve never tried to raise an army in my life. What’s she playing at?

“Ragyo.”

The name means nothing. “Who?”

She looks mildly shocked. “She lived in your town for quite some time.”

“I went to boarding school. Are you gonna gimme a straight answer or not?”

“Leader of a biker gang? The Revocs? Known mostly for destroying every town they passed through? Rainbow hair?”

“Ryuko, your blood is boiling,” Senketsu says anxiously.

“Rainbow hair?” I shriek.

“So you do know her.”

“I saw her once! Before I went back to school, she – my whole town! She probably caused my dad’s heart attack!” My voice is rising, I know, but I don’t care. “What about her? Why do you need to raise an army here to fight her?”

“Because she’s coming here,” Satsuki says, and finally, there’s a hint of proper emotion in her voice. She sounds angry. “And it’s time for this to stop.”

“It takes an army to stop her?”

Satsuki sighs. “It takes good fighters. In lieu of several of those, an army. But you – you are worth fighting against, Matoi Ryuko. With your help, we have a chance.”

“I’m in.” I don’t even have to think about it. Satsuki’s existence suddenly makes sense. I’m totally willing to join with her to fight Rainbow-Haired Asshat. “When’s this fight happening?”

“Whenever she gets here. Presumably within a week.”

“What kind of support do we have?”

“Next to none.”

“You haven’t made yourself popular, moving in and training people.”

“Satsuki-sama has no need of popularity,” rumbles the big guy.

“Right, right, and no need for support,” I answer acidly. “She can take on everyone by herself. I see where you’re coming from.”

“Hey, don’t insult Satsuki-sama!” Shrieks Chain-Smoker.

“It’s fine, Nonon.”

“And you have police support?” I ask hopefully.

“We do not.”

“Damn. Why not?”

“We cause too much trouble.”

I slouch. “ _Damn_.”

“Why?”

“That means they’re meddling. And it means I have to go talk to them.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Yes.”

“Ryuko-chan doesn’t like Aikuro-san,” Mako explains.

“He’s annoying. And pervy.”

I swing onto my bike. Mako hops on behind me. “Are you coming?”

Satsuki mounts her bike and wheels around. “Lead on.”

The smile she gives me is almost – conspiratorial. Like we’re in it together. Even though two seconds ago we were literally at each other’s throats. Amazing. 

I twist my head just enough so Mako can hear me. “Are you okay with this, Mako?”

“I think it’s a good thing you’re going to save my town, Ryuko-chan. We should go on a date when you’re done. To a restaurant.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

She smiles the whole way there.

 

“Matoi Ryuko,” Aikuro says arrogantly. _Everything_ he does is arrogant. “And Mankanshoku Mako. With Kiryuin Satsuki, Jakazure Nonon, Sanageyama Uzu, Gamagoori Ira, and Inumuta Houka. What a band. _What_ a band. What can I do for you, Matoi?”

I scowl. “Backup. I want backup.”

Tsumugu comes out of the backroom and scowls when he sees me. I don’t care. The feelings are mutual. “What are _you_ doing here?”

“Asking for support. To maintain _your_ town.”

“Let me give you three pieces of information.”

I groan. His favorite phrase is also my least favorite.

“One. We don’t help criminals. Two. We don’t support war. Three. We don’t advocate for fighting. We will not help you drag this town into the trash heap.”

“More eloquent than usual. It doesn’t matter. She’s coming. Ragyo’s coming. You were both there when she burned down my – our – hometown. You know what she’ll do here if she gets the chance.”

I watch their faces fall. They know as well as I do that she needs to be stopped.

“We’ll have to head her off before she even hits town.”

“Gotcha.”

“When’s she getting here?”

“No idea.”

“Probably within the week,” Satsuki adds, “knowing her general timeline.”

“General timeline?”

“It takes about a month to destroy a town. She doesn’t do it too often. She will not draw attention to herself like that. She’s in her quiet period for now, but she will come soon enough.”

“How do you know she’s coming here?”

“She told me.”

I gape at her. Did I misjudge her? Is she a traitor?

Satsuki looks around at our horrified faces. “You don’t know her last name, do you.”

“Barely know her _first_ name,” Tsumugu says, leaning forward threateningly. “How do _you_ know her last name?”

Satsuki doesn’t back down. “Kiryuin Ragyo is my mother. I am the child she raised as a successor. Perhaps it would be better to say I am the one who comes before she does. I am the one who prepares towns for her arrival.”

I jump back, throwing out an arm to push Mako back. “You –!”

She throws me a look of annoyance. “Would I be organizing a resistance force – putting in the time and effort to train people and pitting them against Ragyo – if I was only here to watch her destroy it?”

“Maybe that makes it more fun!” Tsumugu suggests.

“Then again, you’ve never done this in any of her other towns, have you?” Aikuro asks.

Satsuki shakes her head stiffly. “She has never allowed me this degree of autonomy before, or this kind of time to prepare for her arrival. It makes me nervous. It suggests that she knows I will betray her.”

“So it’s useless,” I surmise.

“Of course it’s not!” Mako pipes up indignantly. “Nothing is useless, Ryuko-chan! You’ve been fighting your whole life! You’re strong and scary and skilled and hothothot! And Satsuki-sama is just as strong and scary and skilled as you are! And I don’t think Satsuki-sama picked useless people to come with her! And Aikuro-san and Tsumugu-san are good fighters and they were there when Ragyo came through your town! And we’ll help! The whole town will pitch in to defend ourselves! We have time and lots of good people on our side and we’ll win, Ryuko-chan!” She punches the air. “We can do it!”

I can’t help but grin at her. “Yeah! Yeah, it’s not hopeless.”

Satsuki’s looking at Mako with something like approval. “We’ll do just fine, if we prepare properly.”

“What kind of preparation do we need?” Aikuro asks.

Tsumugu looks at him, shock written all over his chicken face, but doesn’t protest. He’s outnumbered.

“First of all, we’ll need a warning. Someone out west who’ll keep watch for her and can tell us when she’s coming. Second, we’ll need everyone ready to move at any time, at three in the morning if necessary. That means weapons, bikes, cars, people, all ready to go at any time.”

“Will that kind of force be necessary?” Tsumugu asks. “Civilians shouldn’t have to get involved.”

Satsuki frowns. “There will be two people with Ragyo: Nui and Rei. Rei personally organizes all of Ragyo’s movements, and keeps her informed at all times. She is not as dangerous as Ragyo, but it will take more than one person to bring her down. Nui is – BioWear. BioWear given limbs and a body of its own, combined with Ragyo’s twisted personality. She is incredibly dangerous; I’m sure all of you, Matoi most of all, understand how difficult it is to harm BioWear. Bullets are entirely useless. The usual method of defeating someone wearing BioWear is to aim for any exposed place; Nui doesn’t have any exposed skin. Swords take time to work through –”

“Not mine,” I interrupt. “My scissor blade was made to cut through BioWear.”

“May I see?” She asks, holding out her hand.

I pause.

“Matoi, I would not waste all this time just to kill you with your own blade.”

I reluctantly hand her my blade and she lifts it to her own sleeve. I wince as she chops down. She does not.

“How does your BioWear take _that_?” I ask as she hands it back, examining the neatly chopped end of her sleeve.

“What do you mean?”

“Isn’t it painful?”

“Isn’t what painful?”

Is she stupid? “Doesn’t it hurt your BioWear? To get chopped up like that?”

“It’s clothing.”

“I don’t think other BioWear speaks like I do,” Senketsu suggests. “I believe your father himself created me.”

That’s – weird. I always figured BioWear was expensive because it was partially sentient.

Then again, that would be cruel, selling sentient beings.

I rub Senketsu’s sleeve.

Satsuki hands me back my scissor blade. “Mankanshoku was right. We have a much better chance than I initially believed. Nui is an extension of Ragyo, and nearly undefeatable. You will have to fight her, Matoi. You are the only one who can kill her with a single strike.”

“What was your plan?” Aikuro asks. “If you couldn’t kill her?”

“Capture her. Trap her and hack away.”

Aikuro grimaces. “And Ragyo?”

“She and Rei are dangerous, but in a high-security prison, separated and confined – they could be controlled.”

Aikuro nods. “How dangerous is she?”

“I cannot fight her alone. She’s cunning, cruel, and entirely immoral. Killing her would be difficult; capturing her will be harder.”

“Isn’t this a job for skilled fighters, rather than civilians?” Tsumugu asks pointedly.

“Show of force. And if any of us go down, there’ll be a wave of people waiting to take over.”

Aikuro nods. “They won’t get involved unless we fail.”

Satsuki nods. “Acceptable. Don’t fail, and no one will have to fight.”

“We need the town on your side, then,” Tsumugu says. “And trained.”

“Mako can do it,” I butt in.

“What?” Mako shrieks.

“She can’t do the training, but she can get everyone on our side. She’s good with people.”

“I –” I can see the resolve forming in her eyes. “If you think I can do it, Ryuko-chan, then I can do it.”

I grin and kiss her nose. She giggles when I twirl her beanie.

“We should start now!”

“Gotcha!”

Out the door and onto our bikes. We go from house to house, and little by little Mako wins over the entire town. Satsuki follows us, slowly setting up a rotation system of people who’ll go out of town and keep watch for Ragyo. Her four followers go around town finding out who can fight and who can’t, and training everyone up properly.

Mako quickly worms her way into everyone’s hearts. It helps that Satsuki and her Elite Four, as she calls them, eat dinner with us. It’s difficult to eat with the Mankanshokus and not feel like part of the family. And, of course, Mako’s the most endearing family member. She gets smiles from Satsuki and croquettes from Gamagoori. It doesn’t take long for Nonon to warm up to her, either. Mako’s like a sun, her gravity slowly pulling more people into our growing family.

Four days pass before we get the call.

It comes in the morning, in the quiet time before breakfast. _Ragyo’s coming_.

“Mako, you should –”

“I’m coming,” she says determinedly.

She pouts at me.

“Let’s go, then.”

We meet up with Satsuki, who gives us a terse nod. Even her four disciples don’t have a word to say.

Satsuki leads the way. We’re joined by half the town before we reach Aikuro and Tsumugu at the border. They wish us a grim good morning and take their place behind Satsuki.

No one speaks. I don’t think they’d be able to hear their own voices over the sound of the bikes anyway.

Ragyo’s gonna hear us coming. She’s gotta be able to hear us from a mile away.

The bike vibrates underneath me, and Mako squeezes my waist tightly. The familiarity of it all is grounding, even though Senketsu is barely a ratty cloak on my back to cover up my scissor blade. It’s our secret weapon, I’m not giving it away.

Ragyo is waiting for us, with two people behind her. “Satsuki, you planned an uprising? I’m shocked!”

“I’m shocked I can hear her over the bikes,” I mutter as we skid to a stop.

“You won’t get in, Ragyo. Nui. Rei.” She nods at each girl as she says their name, and I fixate on the girl in pink. Nui.

Ragyo laughs. “I’ll put you down like an animal and move on.”

Satsuki looks like she’s about to continue the conversation, but Tsumugu interrupts.

“Let me give you three pieces of information.”

“Oh, no,” Mako sighs in my ear. Even with Rainbow-Haired Asshole twenty feet away, Tsumugu manages to be the most incredibly annoying person on the face of the damn planet.

“One. You cannot beat us. Two. This is the end of the line for you. Three. If you turn yourself in, we can do this peacefully.”

Satsuki’s nose flares as Ragyo stands.

“That’s a sound argument. I’ll take the deal.”

No. There’s no way. This isn’t real. She’s bluffing.

But she’s got her hands out in front of her and Tsumugu’s stepping forward.

I remember Satsuki’s sword growing out of her BioWear.

“No!” I yell, but Satsuki’s faster, and she’s in front of Tsumugu, sword blocking Ragyo’s.

And then it’s _chaos_.

“Mako, get off!” I yell, and she slips off.

“You can do it, Ryuko-chan!” She screams as I speed towards Nui.

She’s there for a second, and then she’s gone.

I slide to a stop. Where the hell –

“Duck!” Senketsu yells, and I nearly hit my head on the handlebars as I lean down, just in time to avoid a _scissor blade –_

“Where’d you get that?” I yell as I jump off the bike and lunge at her, pulling out my scissor.

“Ryuko! _Matoi_ Ryuko!” Nui cackles. “Of course!”

“What are you talking about!” I scream as I slash at her.

“You didn’t think daddy Matoi only made _one_ scissor blade, did you?”

“What? What are you talking about?” I shriek.

She just laughs.

“Ryuko, you have to calm down. Pay attention to her movements, not her words. She’s just taunting you.”

“What are you talking about?” I yell.

She keeps laughing.

Keeping up with her takes everything I’ve got. I can’t get through to cut her.

“We didn’t target your town for nothing,” she says cheerfully. “But your papa figured out what we were going for and got out just in time. He was good with those scissors. I fought him and only got out with one half of it, and lost my eye, too! By the time I found him again, he was dead and it was gone and none of his papers said anything about how to make it!”

I’m moving on autopilot. What is she saying? She went hunting for my dad? She and Ragyo went after my –

The scissor blade is out of my hands.

I hear it clatter against the ground, out of my reach.

It’s not hard for her to knock me over.

“Couldn’t kill one Matoi, but I’ll get the second!” Nui yells happily, raising the other half of my scissor blade above me.

She peers down at the scissor blade coming out of her chest.

“What?” She says blankly.

The scissor blade cuts down.

Nui falls.

Mako stands over both of us. “Ryuko-chan! What were you thinking! We wouldn’t have been able to go on our date if you died!”

She grabs my hand and pulls me up.

“Mako…”

She jabs me in the nose. “I heard what she said and I don’t care. She didn’t kill your dad. She’d have gone to another town if not yours. So it’s okay. She didn’t do anything to you. All she did was tell you that your father was smart and a good fighter! You must get it from your dad, Ryuko-chan!”

Her smile is blinding and I can’t resist it.

I smile back.

And then I remember the fight raging around us, and I realize I can’t hear it anymore.

Because it’s not happening.

Satsuki’s standing over Ragyo and a pool of red that I don’t particularly want to go near. Aikuro’s holding Rei, hands cuffed behind her, while Tsumugu yells into his phone. The brigade we rallied up is slowly leaving, some of them looking a little worse for wear. Satsuki’s four elites are standing behind Satsuki, looking a little lost.

I reach for Mako’s hand and she smiles at me. “I don’t think they have any place to go,” she says when she looks back at Satsuki. “We should go talk to them.”

I hold back any protest as she pulls me over to Ragyo’s dead body.

Satsuki looks up at me.

There’s not even a hint of remorse in her eyes.

She doesn’t give any explanation. I don’t think I need one. She did say it would be easier to kill Ragyo than to capture her.

“Where are you going to live, Satsuki-sama?” Mako asks.

Satsuki smiles. I think she might be fond of Mako. “We’ll find a place.”

“You could live with us!” Mako says happily.

“What?”

I can’t tell if it was Satsuki or I who said it, but it doesn’t matter.

“You’re already practically living with us! It wouldn’t take much for us to expand, really, especially if you all help!” She’s practically bouncing with excitement. “We could all live together!”

“Mankanshoku – maybe you should talk to your parents about that.”

“They’ll be fine with it!”

Satsuki bows her head. “I would be honored to accept a place in your household, and I’m sure my Elite Four would be as well.”

“Ryuko-chan, we should go tell Mom and Dad!”

I grin at her. “Yeah.”

I settle onto my bike and Mako settles herself behind me and wraps her arms around my waist.

“We should take another vacation.”

Mako giggles. “I’d like that, Ryuko-chan.”

The noise of my bike rises around us as we speed back into town.


End file.
